Maybell Post Office to remain open — for now

Quotable

“We looked at a number of different factors … and it just didn’t make sense to us to close the office in the end.”

David Rupert

U.S. Postal Service spokesman in Denver, on why the Maybell Post Office has been removed from the list of potential branch closures

The post office in Maybell, a town 30 miles west of Craig, has been removed from a list of branches that could potentially close due to cost-cutting measures, the U.S. Postal Service announced earlier this month.

David Rupert, a USPS spokesman in Denver, confirmed the announcement Tuesday. He said closing the rural Moffat County facility that serves approximately 200 residents from Maybell to Browns Park wasn’t logical.

“We looked at a number of different factors,” Rupert said. “Availability of alternative services, the needs of the population and the distance from the nearest office, and it just didn’t make sense to us to close the office in the end.”

In October, residents attended a public meeting at Maybell Elementary School about the closure study process and were encouraged to write postal and government representatives about what makes their community unique.

Rupert said Maybell residents issued letters to the postal service and community comments were taken into consideration.

“There’s nobody that writes us and says we want our post office to close,” Rupert said. “A lot of times these letters tell us things we don’t know about the community, which sheds some light on each office’s situation.

“In this case, it really was the totality of the process — verbal comments from the meeting, written comments and our research.”

Maybell resident Lois Stoffle said she was thrilled with the news.

“I think it’s great for our whole rural community,” Stoffle said. “It’s going to be like it always has been and that’s going to be great.”

Stoffle thanked local elected officials for their efforts regarding the postal branch.

“I want to thank Sen. Michael Bennet and Moffat County Commissioner Audrey Danner for standing by us and working hard to get this done,” Stoffle said. “Mr. Bennet really went out of his way to help us and so did Audrey.”

Rupert said the Maybell branch is safe from closure — at least for now.

“I say for now because we have a worsening financial picture by the day,” Rupert said. “We’re still waiting for Congressional help. We don’t want a bailout, but we do need some changes in the way we do business.”

Because the federal government manages the postal service, changes require Congressional action.

Rupert said he is encouraging Colorado residents to take their personal letter-writing campaigns to the next level.

“It’s great to want to save your local post office, but we’re encouraging people to save their postal service,” Rupert said.

Two other area post offices in Hamilton and Slater are still currently under study, Rupert said.

“Some offices are plainly obvious and taken off the table immediately, but others require a little more in-depth study,” Rupert said. “If we proceed with closures in Hamilton or Slater, we won’t see any public announcements until after the first of the year or maybe even into February.”